December 27, 2009

UPDATE: Marc Ambinder explains that it’s all a cunning plan. Ambinder’s a nice guy, but his nonstop spin has become embarrassing. I mean, when you’re getting more honest criticism from HuffPo....

That's very Instapunditly sharp and enigmatic, so let's dig into the details....

First, the HuffPo (Steve Marmel):

It's December 23 - I lug my tired butt to the airport, ready to leave for vacation. Carrying a bottle of very nice wine, I have to leave my place in the security line as I can't bring it as a carry-on, check it in a bag, get a special box, go through security again and hope I - and my fancy wine - arrive intact....

What kind of idiot imagines that "nice"/"fancy" wine is some exception to the well-known rule against carrying liquids onto the plane? You didn't lose your place in line. You stupidly got into line. I almost stopped reading. But, I see: His point is that he'd become oblivious to terrorism prior to the Christmas Day incident. People traveling after the attack had a properly post-9/11 edge. But...

Meanwhile, the president continues his vacation.

America lucked out this holiday season. It's as simple as that. Something terrible could have happened and It was the bravery of passengers, and the ineptitude of a would-be terrorist, that prevented it.

Did the passengers actually make a difference? The crew was there with fire extinguishers, and Abdulmutallab was stunned and badly burned when the passengers jumped him and dragged him down. It looks to me as though the defectiveness of the device was what saved that plane.

... It was luck.

Yes. Indeed.

And if you're like me - that scared the crap out of you. You probably wanted assurances. What will be done to prevent this? How are we reacting?

If you're like me, you're not looking for Attorney General Eric Holder, or Representative Pete King, to be telling you how it could have been worse or how it will be managed.

When the nation is attacked, I expect to be informed and hopefully calmed by the President of the United States.

So I ask, one more time - of this president who understands that how a message is delivered is just as important as what the message is - What is wrong with this picture?

The picture is of Obama in Hawaii. Sure, he can still say, We must stop the terror, but...

See the problem?

Yes, the president deserves a vacation....

But that vacation should have been over moments after the plane landed at noon on Christmas day, and everybody was starting to do the math that once again, al Qaeda tried to strike at this country.

And even if it were only for appearances - even if it were simply to make people know the commander-in-chief was in front of whatever buttons and levers are at his disposal to act and react to threats to this nation - the president should have been inconvenienced as well.

There are moments like these where it's important not to simply just do the work, or be told by others that the work is being done. We need to see it.

And that could have been done in Hawaii. Just not from the back nine.

Back to work, sir. Back to work.

I would go further, as I've said. I don't think the President should be out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It's too far away. And I don't care that a temporary White House can be set up anywhere. (By the way, I would like an itemization of the costs, in taxpayer dollars and in carbon emissions, of relocating the White House in Hawaii.)

Oh, hey... remember this?

What do you think Hillary is thinking about what's going on? That she would have been back in the White House. She wouldn't have left it to the Secretary of Homeland Security to do the talking on the Sunday shows. She wouldn't be all...

So get out of the tropical foliage, Barack, and fight terrorism. Even if it's all photo-ops for you, have some sense about what the photo op should be right now.

On to Marc Ambinder:

In his Farenheit 9/11, filmmaker Michael Moore juxtaposes images and words of a terrorist attack in Israel with President Bush's first words about the incident, spoken to a press pool on a golf course, with him leaning casually against a tree.

Ah, my association was the same as Ambinder's. Ambinder goes on to tell us that Obama has been golfing in Hawaii. And he went to the gym right after he was briefed about the attack. But Ambinder offers his usual pro-Obama spin:

There is a reason why Obama hasn't given a public statement. It's strategy....

OUTCRY: “Napolitano should quit.” “I watched her on three shows and each time she was more annoying, maddening and absurd than the pevious appearance. It is her basic position that the ’system worked’ because the bureaucrats responded properly after the attack. That the attack was ‘foiled’ by a bad detonator and some civilian passengers is proof, she claims, that her agency is doing everything right. That is just about the dumbest thing she could say, on the merits and politically. I would wager that not one percent of Americans think the system is ‘working’ when terrorists successfully get bombs onto planes (and succeed in activating them).”

That's Jonah Goldberg.

UPDATE: More from an Obama voter: “Now, I know they are mopping up after a failure, and there is reason to want to portray the attack as coming out of the blue and unconnected to anything that should have been the subject of close monitoring, but — damn — I hope they are doing a better job than they look like they are doing. And if they don’t look like they’ve been doing a good job, then they aren’t even doing a good job of mopping up after their failure.”

Oh! Well, I agree with that. It's me. Thanks for the link, Glenn. Yeah, I voted for Obama. Am I sorry? I should be exactly the same amount of sorry I would be if Abdulmutallab's device had not malfunctioned. So, I must say: Yes, I'm sorry.

IN THE COMMENTS: Jason said:

I think everyone should watch that Hillary commercial all the way to the end. It seems different somehow.

149 comments:

The Huffington Post has already memory-holed the post critical of President Obama that asked "What's Wrong With This Picture" which showed him playing golf while terrorists are busy planning attacks against our country.

It's 3am and your children are not safe in their beds. The phone is ringing off the hook in the White House because Barack Obama is on a golf course in fucking Hawaii, 4,000 miles away from our security infrastructure, screwing off on your dime instead of protecting your children.

Firing Napolitano will accomplish nothing, for the same reason that the Big O went to Hawaii and continues to hang out there:

They don't care.

It's not a big deal to them that they granted a visa to a reported Muslim terrorist, and then he got through their fake corrupt theatrical security apparatus.

Obama cares about health care, tho'. What's the difference? He's got big companies and big political groups and big television and all that other big stuff paying attention to that. It's only us lowly people who care about our ability to easily fly commercial and not be blown up while doing so.

This is my pipe dream: We need someone in charge to cut through the bullshit, while at the same time protecting individual lives and, most importantly, individual freedoms. We need a new, 21st-Century, constitutional Princeps. And I'm throwing in my lot with Althouse! Althouse for Emperor!

C'mon guys... let's thrust her up on our shields and pronounce it to the world!

She's a law professor, so I'm sure she can figure out the constitutional details.

Eh. I'm not sorry. I'd much rather come to terms with an actual President Obama than the idealized, fictionalized one that would have been repeatedly thrown into our faces if he'd never made it to the White House.

His dad was a bigwig in a Nigerian bank, and took the trouble to call the US Embassy.

Obviously, Obama can't be responsible for monitoring 400,000 fliers, but he could put in place people who could check the list, and install air-tight programming that would guarantee no one on that list got on an American plane.

I seriously think that McCain could have done this, and would also have put in executive orders that stopped the Fort Hood massacre.

Obama has other priorities. He wants us to pump our tires a little more full, and then relax. Vigilance is not his problem. Pump up your tires a bit, and leave him alone.

Good point. He wants to avoid reminding Americans with a visual of him in sunny, far-away Hawaii after now TWO domestic incidents involving airliners.

At the risk of always invoking Jack Kennedy in my responses, I will just note that when he was in Hyannis Port, he often used the Armory there as his backdrop. You know, something official, commanding, historic.

Couldn't Obama just come out, say a brief few sentences about the incident, using any one of the Naval bases in Hawaii as his backdrop? I don't think that's too much to ask, nor would it be hypocritical.

Yes, it would accomplish something. It would send a signal to the nation that Barack Obama disagrees that "the system worked" when a terrorist on a TIDE watch list was able to board a flight with a bomb and successfully set it off.

That's what it would accomplish. It would show America that Obama doesn't agree with Napalitano that "the system worked."

Of course, it could very well be that Barack Obama's handlers don't want him anywhere near an unscripted moment.

Because that's what appears to be happening. It's almost like they're afraid he might agree with Napalitano that the system worked.

"Couldn't Obama just come out, say a brief few sentences about the incident, using any one of the Naval bases in Hawaii as his backdrop? I don't think that's too much to ask, nor would it be hypocritical."

@Florida- But what will it change in the way the government does business? We'll get someone new in that will do the same old, same old. We've been down this road before-- replacing heads of departments when they fuck up-- but the stupidity never dissipates.

I too think Napolitano should go. I just don't think we should expect incidents like this to stop occurring just because she's gone. Rather, we should expect no change at all; it'll just be symbolic.

Having had sharp words for Dr. Althouse in a recent thread, I want to say that I don't believe that Dr. Althouse owes anyone an apology for her vote. She's been very clear, before and after the election, about her belief that the Obama administration would be pragmatically centrist in nature. Like many other people, she's been unpleasantly surprised by many of the policies and actions of the administration, on matters of substance, and by what has been called the "tone deafness" of the administration on matters of style. Perhaps we can have a conversation about why so many thoughtful, reasonable people allowed themselves to be misled by the campaign and ignored the numerous red flags that were raised well in advance of election day. That still doesn't imply that anyone owes anyone else an apology.

You have to ask yourself why Napolitano couldn't bring herself to say "Yes, the system failed, miserably, and I'm going to personally head a complete overhaul," which is what a responsible adult would admit given the naked incompetence on display. She didn't say that because the enemy, from her perspective and her boss's perspective is not individual terrorists or terrorist organizations or those enemy regimes that finance and shelter terrorists, the enemy is RIGHT WING CRAZIES!!! and you don't ever ever admit that you've fucked up royally because that would give THEM an opening. Compared to holding the line against THEM the safety of the American People is as naught.

Some online English paper--maybe the Guardian-- in their analysis of this event pointed out that the election of Obama made it more difficult for AQ to recruit terrorists. Obama, they claimed, showed the Muslims that there are other ways besides terrorism to achieve success.....The Obamacrats claim that the stimulus package has saved millions of jobs. In like ways, they will claim that Obama's policies have saved us from x many terrorist attacks. Every Muslim who is not a suicide bomber is an affirmation of Obama's policies...New Deal Democrats were convinced that British Imperialism was a more pernicious force in the world than Soviet Communism. Their descendents today believe that Israel and/or the USA are the root cause of all the malignity in the Islamic world. These bigots believe that only western capitalism is capable of true evil.

"I too think Napolitano should go. I just don't think we should expect incidents like this to stop occurring just because she's gone."

Leaders set the tone. Under Napalitano's leadership, the operative phrase is "there is no evidence of a wider terrorist plot." Under her leadership, the operative phrase is "the system worked!"

Even when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary and even when there is evidence of a wider plot that even average Americans can determine on their own.

See the way they figure it, if there's evidence that a terrorist got through their shitty security policies, it makes them guilty of not protecting the homeland on their watch.

Which, hey, they are guilty.

So, underlings have been put on notice: "Don't find evidence of a wider plot." Underlings don't look so hard for evidence of that wider plot if they think their careers might be placed in jeopardy making their bosses look bad.

Leadership matters.

Barack Obama sets the tone. Janet Napalitano sets the tone.

And the tone they've set is deaf, dumb and blind. There can be no al Queda success on their watch, so they will never find links to al Queda on their watch. They will never find "evidence of a wider conspiracy."

Now ... Obama could have his Sista Soulja moment and fire Napalitano, or he can try to stick with her line that "the system worked."

But my guess is that their strategy of claiming that "the system worked" isn't going to last 2 seconds beyond the first question Barack Obama is asked at his next press conference.

Assuming the people controlling Barack Obama allow him to get anywhere near the press any time soon.

Nothing will change until we lose million or more people in a single terrorist attack. Repub, Demo, doesn't matter, with little piss ants like this, including the previous administration in charge, we will never acknowledge what is exactly the problem.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: conscience never won a war, you have to kill.

While I agree Napolitano said about the stupidest thing possible by saying the system worked, the no evidence of a wider plot has more to do with letting travelers know that the attack was deemed to be a one off. So far that seems to have been borne out.

Obama is the only one who has the ability to "lead" in the way you mention. Napolitano doesn't. She's just a plug-in bureaucrat whose foremost job is to protect her boss politically-- and it's the same with all the other department heads! The number one aspect of all their jobs is to cover their boss's ass!

The only one who has the ability to demonstrate "leadership" is Obama. Resolution of the public discontent must come from him. And where is he? Are you hiding behind that curtain there, Barry?

No, Florida, I've searched all over and Baracko is not anywhere in my house... perhaps if we all look real hard we can find him... somewhere.

First, she had a right to her vote and the reasoning behind it. As I've said before, I blame the so-called "conservatives" who didn't want to soil their patties voting for McCain and stayed home, knowing what was going to happen. Ann, at least, wanted things to work out, not crash and burn.

Second, I think Ann has seen this coming and, little by little, she's conceded sticker shock over the past ten months or so. It's tough to admit you're wrong, especially when everybody can't wait to pounce on you.

Julius Ray Hoffman said...

Firing Napolitano will accomplish nothing, for the same reason that the Big O went to Hawaii and continues to hang out there:

Like Hell it wouldn't. Put somebody like Buck Kernan in charge and give him the authority to straighten things out, including backing him up when he has to stand up to Congress.

vbspurs said...

Ann wrote:

See the problem?

Good point. He wants to avoid reminding Americans with a visual of him in sunny, far-away Hawaii after now TWO domestic incidents involving airliners.

Hopefully, that's it. It may be that the creeping sensation that a lot of people are having that he doesn't care about us peons may also be it.

Couldn't Obama just come out, say a brief few sentences about the incident, using any one of the Naval bases in Hawaii as his backdrop? I don't think that's too much to ask, nor would it be hypocritical.

Depends on where he is. If he's on the north of Oahu, there's always Fort Shafter or Kaneohe (sp?). Hickam would also be a good choice, but, yes, he is Commander-in-Chief and this is part of the job, although he's given every indication he really doesn't want to have to do it.

Put somebody like Buck Kernan in charge and give him the authority to straighten things out, including backing him up when he has to stand up to Congress.

Yeah, like that's going to happen. Do that and Buck Kernan instantly becomes a threat to his boss. The system is structured right now to encourage weak, pathetic department heads who do nothing except offer excuses and pandering. Right now, with Obama off smokin' pot or skinny-dippin' or whatever, nobody is in charge.

Yes, even liberals are angry about this. After all, it is liberals who fly around the world engaging globally and dissing America at fashionable parties, while we rubes just hop in the pick-up to attend nearby drag races.

Obams only gets mad when someone disses him. If Abdul had said "I did it cuz I hate that dipshit Obama" we would have seen a different reaction.

No apologies from this Obama supporter, but he is making too many unforced errors. And if he wants to take a break, Camp David is a great relaxing nature spot I'm sure, and the Federal Government can probably buy up some nice acreage in Sedona or the Rockies to put up a Western White House if he wants some secure R&R. And yes, I said the same thing about Bush and his potemkin ranch, too.

Yep, hysterics are claiming that ANY incident of Islamoid violence immediately rises to the level of Presidential #1 priority. Because only he can calm panicked women down, reassure the markets and the little children. And if there are casualties, only HE can begin Healing the Nation and Helping it Reach Closure..as Consoler in Chief.

-------------------Kirby Olson - I seriously think that McCain could have done this, and would also have put in executive orders that stopped the Fort Hood massacre.

Hardly. Senator McDimbulb was instrumental in his role on Senate Armed Services in wanting absolutely no questioning of anyone in the Armed Forces over their ethnicity or religious beliefs and supported a policy of career-ending any officer thought to be harassing "our invaluable Muslim contributors in the Armed Forces."As for the TSA Maginot Wall, McCain supports anything his pal Lieberman wants at Homeland Security....which for both guys is far more immigration and opportunity for "noble Muslims" to come here on school, work, and tourist permits.

The Nigerian's carte blanche 2-year Visa, of course, was issued in the Bush Administration.

Second luckiest: Obama. But his silence and remove are transforming his luck into foolishness. Yet he is lucky that he's going to be called out on this only by the blogs. The MSM will continue its lapdog role.

I am not convinced by the arguments that none of this would have happened under Bush, or if McCain were President. A lot of the problem arises from the intrinsic difficulty of screening out the right people, and any President will be saddled with the baroque complexity of the Homeland Security department that Congress foisted upon us.

But Obama surely is tone deaf on this issue. It's hard to believe that any President would be as indifferent as he seems to be to this threat, but the evidence of Obama's detachment is getting hard to ignore.

You would think that after Obama taking every conceivable moment to appear on the television and interrupt our lives over stupid shit, that he might want to take this time to present himself as a competent and caring Commander in Chief.

For a while there you couldn't even turn on the cartoon channel without hearing or seeing Obama. Even if it would be just yet another choreographed photo op, his lack of appearing in public is striking.

It is also striking that he his leaving it up to his totally inadequate underlings to set the tone.

I don't think this is an apology for voting for Obama so much as it is a labyrinthine defense of the much-ridiculed post from yesterday, criticizing Obama for going to his home state, Hawaii, for Christmas.

"Why is it that an administration that's supposed to be so media savvy and so brilliant at image crafting is missing this obvious point?"

You're assuming facts not in evidence.

What if they're making a point? What if this is the image they're crafting?

What if the message is: "We'd rather play golf."

Everyone assumes Barack Obama's goal is the protection of the homeland - despite all evidence to the contrary.

But if that was the case, how did a terrorist using his real name, on a watch list, continue to hold a valid visa, then board an airplane with a chemical bomb strapped to his body, bound for America, with not even a pat-down of his person required?

Obama is clearly sending the message he wants sent.

If he wasn't, he'd change that message. He sent his surrogates onto national television this morning to tell the American people that "the system worked."

He can hold a press conference at any time and every member of the media will show up and diligently pass along whatever message Barack Obama cares to telegraph to the nation and the world.

We needn't guess what his message is. He has the ability to command the world's media to get his message out.

I wish I could've DVRed it, and if I see it again, I'll upload it on Youtube for you guys.

During the interview, the story broke that Abdulmuttalab has now been transferred to a Federal prison. Rep. Miller stated in no uncertain terms that he shouldn't be treated like a common criminal, but should be charged as an enemy combatant immediately, given the military, so they could use their most exigent methods to secure as much information as possible from this guy.

Joe Lieberman explains why Janet Napolitano should be fired and why Obama is responsible for the Flight 253 lapses:

"We have to be able to, in our age, put 500,000 names on a computer and have everyone that's trying to come to the U.S. go through that list," he said. "That doesn't mean they're convicted of any wrongdoing, but it would be basis enough to take this guy out of the line in Amsterdam and do a full body check."

This is the image that the media all too willingly allowed Obama to cultivate - he is a "cool" guy who "deliberates" on every "thing" - a welcome change from his brash "cowboy" predecessor - (Unless ofcourse he has to deal with Fox news and "extreme right wing teabaggers")

When the financial crisis occured last year,what was the most commonly heard talking point from his supporters ? Boy, isnt Barack "cool under pressure" ? ( never mind that Obama did not hold power and it was Paulson/Bernanke who had to maintain their cool as they were the ones who needed to come up with a plan to re-assure the market.)

Quite frankly i dont want to see this moron on TV any more. It is actually good that he does not come back to hog the media limelight for the billionth time.

Dear Americans, dont worry - just trust your DHS secretrary who says that the system "worked".

And yes, thank you for creating history by electing the first black President. 3 Years from now, you will have a shot at history again - you can make Obama the first black President to get re-elected.

I don't think this is an apology for voting for Obama so much as it is a labyrinthine defense of the much-ridiculed post from yesterday, criticizing Obama for going to his home state, Hawaii, for Christmas.

Do you mean the same "home state" he couldn't be bothered to visit even after his beloved grandmother died?

Recall that he did not attend her funeral; he went to Hawaii weeks later.

And to my knowledge his home is in Chicago...the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Edutcher, a naval base was just one idea. After all, the Obamas worked out at a Marine base gym first thing Christmas morning. They easily could use the same base for a public speech. He could even be seen wearing a POTUS windbreaker, to give him a relaxed, on holiday, let's not panic, but still official look.

"She made an awful fuss, was abusive to flight crew, and was escorted out of a plane in Florida."

Noticeably, she was not taken to jail, however.

She lives in that other America John Edwards keeps telling us about where they don't have to pay taxes (Geithner), can beat the shit out of their husbands with golf clubs (Woods), can beat the shit out of their wives (Sheen ... wait for it charges will be dropped), can rape 13-year-old girls (Polanski) and apparently can now interfere with a flight crew and still not have to go to jail.

Soon ... sooner than you think ... one of the glitterati will commit a murder in broad daylight, and they won't even be arrested.

Put somebody like Buck Kernan in charge and give him the authority to straighten things out, including backing him up when he has to stand up to Congress.

Yeah, like that's going to happen. Do that and Buck Kernan instantly becomes a threat to his boss. The system is structured right now to encourage weak, pathetic department heads who do nothing except offer excuses and pandering. Right now, with Obama off smokin' pot or skinny-dippin' or whatever, nobody is in charge.

It never fails to astound me how the Lefties are great at trying to shoot down any idea to improve things by saying, "It'll never work. The system won't allow it, etc.", but they expect everybody to still trust in government solutions.

This will go on until the Sears Tower or something similar disappears or, as far as that goes, a city and people start demanding things work or the revolution starts NOW. And then people like Montagne and MUL will start bellyaching about the Althouse Hillbillies taking over and how it's all fascism, blah blah, blah blah. But people like Hoffman still say we shouldn't even try to fix things.

vbspurs said...

Depends on where he is.

Edutcher, a naval base was just one idea. After all, the Obamas worked out at a Marine base gym first thing Christmas morning. They easily could use the same base for a public speech. He could even be seen wearing a POTUS windbreaker, to give him a relaxed, on holiday, let's not panic, but still official look.

No criticism intended, mum, just wanted to point out he doesn't have to drag himself all the way to Pearl for a photo op.

PS A suit wouldn't be a bad idea in such circumstances. It would say, "I'm here on the job".

"The problem with this analysis is that it comes from a different world from that suffused by dust, gunpowder, thin air, sweat and bewildering noise. It comes ready formed from that Washington cauldron of action, the cocktail party. In that setting the wounds are inflicted by different weapons: the disparaging glance, cutting word, calculated snub and the limpness of the handshake. These strike the telling blows. They destroy careers. They launch news stories with legs. In this world things are fixed by manipulating perception, by choosing the images allowed to the press. It is no wonder that Ambinder focuses on the symbolism of things. It is not that he is stupid. But even to an intelligent carpenter, every problem looks like a nail. And in Washington, symbols are the nails.

Through this prism the world looks a different place. Al-Qaeda must be crushed that the President has decided to stay in Hawaii rather than react o their nearly successful attempt to bring an airplane with nearly 300 people down on Detroit. The Islamists must be moritified that he does not even deign to notice them. They must feel downcast; oppressed by the certainty that they are so yesterday. In that universe Obama could not have smitten them more cruelly than if he had told them “don’t call me, I’ll call you”.

And as to leadership, what could be more inspiring to the great unwashed surging to and fro around the Beltway in their aimless evolutions than the majestic indifference of their President, who progresses serene and unperturbed across the pristine sands of a Pacific paradise, the symbol of greatness to which America has been restored."

Beth said: "I don't think this is an apology for voting for Obama so much as it is a labyrinthine defense of the much-ridiculed post from yesterday, criticizing Obama for going to his home state, Hawaii, for Christmas."

His *home* state? He is renting a house. When is the last time he lived there? He was the Senator from Illinois. Hawaii is an extremely -- uniquely -- remote state, and he's chosen it not because he's gone home for Christmas, but because it's a beautiful vacation spot.

This incident could have happened on anyone's watch, and not every extremist wishing harm on our citizens will come at us through our airline security procedures. Some are living in our midst. This just as easily might have been an attempt to blow up a mall somewhere.

Obama's message isn't don't bother me while I'm on vacation. Without saying so, he's saying, "Get used to this.", but also, "Be personally vigilant. It might be the difference between life and death."

It's where he was born, Althouse. Why does he need to own a house there to vacation there? It's not like he's in Bermuda or Jamaica - he's got obvious ties to Hawaii. Lots of Americans have lived in more than one state, and have ties to more than the most recent one they've lived in. Just how weird is it to prefer Hawaii over Chicago in the winter, anyway?

Maybe it's time to get a little lower keyed about "Evildoer hysteria". After 8 years of politician and media stoked dripping fear that ANY terrorist act - a Muslim shooting another American, a Muslim driving his car into people, the latest dismal "solo" terrorist...or The Latest FBI Patsy (the dumb Muslim who meets an FBI agent provocateur who assures him he can get a great bomb and give it to the miserable little Islamoid and even has a great target in mind..)

The next thing you know, the Americans conditioned to drip with fear at the slightest Muslim problem are seeing banner headlines and praising the FBI heroes of the plot the FBI nurtured, or demanding to know what the President will do to Save the Nation from future Muslim students who might drive a car into a crowd.But until the President speaks....how can they feel perfectly Safe Again??

I mean, it helps the TV ratings and as long as the fear is high the politicians benefit from the perpetually scared they tell Heroes like them and government employees in uniform will protect...But surely we can distinguish between a shattering obviously lead news event like 9/11 that REQUIRES Presidential attention and news the FBI talked 3 Muslims into taking a fake bomb the FBI provided to some Texas insurance building the undercover FBI said would be a great target...And surely we can admit after 8 years that yes, there are cases of Islamic violence that do not require Congress, the President to drop all they are doing to "focus on the Muslim driver and the 3 victims he hit who were treated and released from a clinic..".

I've thought for a long time that the way you get under Binnie and Ayman al-Zawahiri's skin is to drop their reward from 30 million or so down to a million for Binnie and 750K for Ayman...just saying that they aren't worth more, given they are just hiding...It would be a huge blow to each's ego. As would incidents like with the Nigerian where the discussions I heard in the airport today were about Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and what ridiculous new restrictions "the morons" at TSA and Homeland Security would dole out next to punish all passengers.

You mean the one he and the FLOTUS flew to Copenhagen to win the Olympics for? Remember... they burned all that CO2, tax payer money and time flying to Denmark to tell personal stories about why Honolulu should get the Olympics.

From his speech:

Now, I may live in Washington these days. I love Washington, D.C. And our house here is a little bigger than the one we got in Chicago. But I've called Chicago home for nearly 25 years. It's a city of broad shoulders and big hearts and bold dreams; a city of legendary sports figures, legendary sports venues, and legendary sports fans; a city like America itself, where the world -- the world's races and religions and nationalities come together and reach for the dream that brought them here.

Let us make a note for the future, please. Should Palin make it to the White House, we should remember that Alaska is an extremely - uniquely - remote state. She ought not to be visiting there at Christmas. Unless she invokes the "when was the last time she lived there?" rule.

I'm trying to figure out the factors in the Althouse matrix of presidential vacation sites. Does chronology trump distance? Or distance trump chronology? would it have been better for Bush to visit Connecticut, where he was born and which is close to DC, or Texas, where he was governor shortly becoming president, but which is at a greater distance from Washington? Is it the length of the stay? The cost of the travel? The exotic nature of the locale?

Apology NOT accepted. You BEAR THE BLAME when millions of Americans surely die in the next terrorist attack.

You wanted your fantasy of "the West Wing" mixed with "24" Wayne Palmer, and you got him.

It is your fault -- you voted a stupid Yuppie elitist fantasy instead of doing your duty to America and picking the least awful man (McCain was no picnic).

So no, you cannot call the bullet back. Accept your role in helping to kill millions of Americans, as a US city surely dies from "man caused disasters."

I am at least consoled by the fact that there will be little need for a Law Professor or indeed lawyers in an America that saw Lawfare approaches to combating Jihad end up with NYC nuked and millions of Americans dead. This is why yuppies are a bane on America -- they put their fantasies of how the world really works (a combination of liberal PC claptrap they saw in movies and TV) ahead of actual reality, and vote fantasy instead of the tragic reality of the least bad alternative.

Apology NOT accepted.

It is, in fact, partially your fault when the plot inevitably succeeds. The deaths will be at your door. You knew what you were doing, and did it anyway.

I think Beth is right - it isn't an apology. It's an expression of sorrow that her vote helped elect such a substandard president evidently unable to perform his primary job as Commander in Chief.

Meade, can you ask Ann to clarify? Because I took it as a flat-out apology, rather than regret. Since I think this blogpost will be commented on in the same vein as Johnson's "Why I Parted from the Right Wing" will be, it would be good to know the nuance.

I notice you right wingers keep saying "terrorist". "Terrorist" was a racist term used by Cheney and the Bushies as an excuse to kill Saddam, a non-white guy, to steal his oil for Cheney's buddies.

The incident that happened over Detriot was a man-caused-incident. It was the only way a non-white guy could call attention to his plight of being a non-white person in this racist world. There's no terrorist attack, there's no need for the president to speak unteleprompted in front of anything. Our air security system always work. We can always depend on our first line of defence: the stupidity of men who may cause incidents. Anyway, the system worked, it restricted the amount of liquid he could bring onto the plane, thus foiled his attempt to cause an incident. Another line of defence: the restrooms are so small affording him no place to cause the incident in the rest room.

You're completely missing at least my point. A major reason for criticizing Obama is that because he and his fellow Progressives have repeatedly warned all of us that we need to reduce our carbon footprints. When they needlessly produce hundreds of metric tons of CO2 for the purposes of a warm weather vacation when they have other far more reasonable options, they are opening themselves up to charges of hypocrisy.

Palin cannot be accused of fearmongering about climate change and, therefore, cannot be held to the same standard as someone who promised me that he would stop the oceans from rising.

Who knew that the Opposition Party that people wanted to use to punish the outgoing Bush and a corrupt GOP cadre of Master Earmarkers could be that dangerous a fifth columnist. The Obama administration is lukewarm about real national security and real economic recovery because they can achieve their goals quicker if both of those are slowly turned into disasters. The professor may be noticing that this slow Frog Cooking of the USA by Barry and his world governance sponsors is reaching a boiling hot water point that requires us frogs to jump out faster than a sarah Palin Facebook Post.

chickenlittle, if you're German or Austrian, then you know that the proper locution would be "Herr Professor Doktor chickenlittle." But before I'm willing to refer to you as "Herr Professor Doktor chickenlittle," I'll be needing some cites to your scholarly publications, from which, no doubt, I can find references to your JD.

@Helen. I assume you have never been married so, you may not know that when people become married in the true sense of the word, they do tend to blend their feelings, views and accommodate each other's different ideas and ways of thinking. It doesn't necessarily follow that one or the other has lost his/her voice.

"counterpoint"

Counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent. It has been most commonly identified in Western music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period, especially in Baroque music. The term originates from the Latin punctus contra punctum meaning "point against point".

HelenParr...Do you mean that Mr Meade is only a loyal man? What a terrible thing to say, or is it a complement? The key to dealing with married couples is to remember that they are a team in which the two become as strong as ten when they work together.

Wait, wasn't Helen Parr that awesome Caribbean black lady who wrote this on Althouse in 2008 during the presidential campaign?

Moreover, I'm not interested in ram-goat, rum, and roti politics (that's Caribbean for race politics). Race is not enough to convince me to vote for someone. As long as the ideas, ideology, and policy offerings are acceptable, the candidate could be any race he wants. Suppose I vote for Obama on the basis of race; how does that address our terrorism problem? Am I to believe that because Obama is from a Muslim Kenyan father that that gives him some sort of extra power in addressing terrorism issues? I don't think so. Muslims are killing Muslims daily. What else is Obama offering besides talk?

Damn. That was Helen CADOGAN. I feel like I've been punked. I want my LOL back.

Since the election, I've been thinking, 'I hope I'm wrong but...' regarding health care and the economy and the war. But all I've seen is corrupt kleptocrats and incompetent bureaucracy, led by an unserious self-congratulatory man-child.

If I walked out of my house, went a block or two, and got hit by a truck crossing the street, I might well remark afterward that I'm sorry I decided to walk to work that morning. However, this would not be an apology.

Obama did exactly what Clinton ( either one ) would have done. Looked at the situation, failed to see any way to buy votes and went back to the domestic agenda. No Democrat gives a damn about foreign affairs. Except perhaps as a distraction.

I don't care if Obama is in Hawaii or DC. More particularly, I disagree with the Hostess that he can't work from Hawaii. However, that vacation house doesn't have nearly the communication capability as say the military assets at Pearl Harbor. Don't let Hollywood fool you, communications require heavy duty hardware. I doubt a vacation home has it.

Should he respond as he would if it had been successful? Probably in policy, but I don't think so in discussion. I agree, his non-response isn't calming or helpful, but it doesn't telegraph what we do know to any on-going terrorist activity. I hope we learn later that more activity happened behind the scenes later in the day.

Napolitano should be fired, if for no other reason than her response was no better than Michael Brown's to Katrina. In many ways, it was worse. First, the system didn't work. The US government gave this terrorist all he needed to get on the plane and come to the US. Second, if it did work, why change security procedures after the fact? Moreover and third, if there is no sign of greater threat and the system worked, why raise the threat level and ramp things up? This is incompetence, and we don't need that level of incompetence in a position this important.

Rialby, it's not substantive. It's a silly distraction. Do you really expect Obama to drive a Prius to Camp David for vacation? It's not going to happen. Of course they're hypocrites. Surprised? If you plan to offer that up as a serious topic every time the Obamas go to Hawaii - where he was born, his home state - then be prepared to be dismissed.

There certainly is "strategy" in Barry's plan to answer this latest attack on civilians. It's the strategy of "how can I spin this to make myself look good, or at least, less bad". That seems to be the modus operandi of Barack Obama's administration so far, and I don't even know why he bothers anyway. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are the ones who are actually in charge, and they've made it quite clear they don't give two shits about the American people anyway.

@Leland I didn't say he "can't work." I just don't think he should work like that. He owes us more than he's giving. And the image is also very bad for him. He should take care not to seem out of touch/distant/disinterested. That's typically been a problem for him.

He should take care not to seem out of touch/distant/disinterested. That's typically been a problem for him.

That I agree with. But it would be just as much of a problem if he were holidaying in Chicago. His distance is emotional and rhetorical, not literal. We would see and hear him just fine over the airwaves all the way from out there in the Pacific, in our 50th state. He wouldn't even have to shout.

"he's chosen it not because he's gone home for Christmas, but because it's a beautiful vacation spot."

Possibly. I think he may have done it for his kids, trying to give them some semblance of a normal childhood by letting them have a chance to play in the surf and on the beach for a few days. In other words, this may have been a "Dad" decision, not a political one.

As for communications, the HQ of the Pacific Command at Camp Smith overflows with all the communications gear Obama would ever need, and his rented house is only a short distance from the Marine Corps Air Base in Kaneohe, which undoubtedly has its own sophisticated communications center. Instead of getting all wound up over this issue, AA should quaff another large glass of egg nog and relax.

Think of it this way: this is just Barry's reprise of Marion Barry's 1987 Super Bowl trip to California (with his mistress) during one of the biggest winter blizzards ever to hit Washington DC. As I recall, the DC mayor refused to interrupt his vacation because, in his words, there were plenty of people back home in DC who could deal with the storm without him being there. That works for me.

Penney @ 7:37...Exactly what I would like to see here is a correct usage of the phrase "sock puppet". We see that phrase used around here as a political accusation that a candidate is a mere stand-in for a more powerful man's interests. That is a negative way of observing that there is an existing alliance, and adding the derision that the "puppet" in that relationship does not think on his own. To that bomb throwing remark made at Meade, I observed that accepted social order includes spouses supporting the other in public. A Levi Johnson type of relative making a comment in public would not be a sock puppet for sure, but he would be a tragedy.